Construction toys, or building sets, have long provided children with educationally enriching play. Through the act of building, kids develop foundational science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills such as spatial reasoning and decision making. Magnetic construction toys such as Magformers®, Tegu®, and Magna-Tiles® have made building more accessible to children by having pieces that join magnetically without the need for precise dexterity that is often required when assembling with plastic building bricks such as Lego® or even plain wooden blocks that can easily topple. These existing magnetic construction toys are composed of abstract plastic or wood shapes (panels) that can be combined magnetically to form a larger structure.
Existing panel type magnetic building sets do a good job in getting kids to build structures, but they fall short in the opportunity to create long-term engagement by involving children in narrative development. The structures that are formed are abstract, which makes it difficult for many children to engage in imaginative play with the structures. Contrast this to Lego®, which has had much success in theming their once exclusively abstract plastic bricks, allowing children to act out and embellish upon stories implied by the themes. The approach to combine structural and narrative building is especially important to interest girls, who have historically been underserved in the construction toy category.
GeoMag® has made a few attempts with themed magnetic building sets, but these sets are cumbersome to play with as there are many small parts required for assembly since the magnets are separate pieces rather than being housed within the shapes/panels.
In addition to a deficiency in providing thematic backdrops for imaginative play, existing magnetic construction toys present a number of challenges for getting building pieces to magnetically attract regardless of orientation. For example, some magnetic building toys have a set orientation dictated by magnetic polarity (see, e.g., PCT Application No. WO 2010111189 A1), which limits the way the child can combine panels. Others use magnets that spin around or roll to attract the magnets in a neighboring panel (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,170 B2 and Japanese patent publication nos. 2003-190663 and 06-302425). This allows for panels to connect regardless of orientation but requires expensive Neodynium magnets, which also pose a safety risk to children due to their strength. Other building sets separate the magnets from the panels so that the shapes don't have a set magnetic polarity (see, e.g., U.S. Publication No. 2007/0287353). This works to provide the child with freedom of choice but creates an inconvenience with additional small parts to keep track of as well as posing a choking and swallow hazard.
There is a need for an improved magnetic construction toy that provides illustrated, thematic backdrops for imaginative play and in which magnetic panels may be assembled and re-assembled with ease and without small pieces that could present a choking hazard to small children.